1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to computer telephony, and more particularly to parking a call on a telephone network.
2. Related Art
The proliferation of call centers within many different industries has introduced new requirements into the functionality of a telecommunications network. A call center is typically a platform and location used by a business for customer services, operator services, telemarketing, or other such purposes. At a typical call center, individuals known as "agents" interact with callers to accomplish these purposes. Callers commonly access a call center by dialing a 1-800 number, though any type of telephone number may be used.
Many call centers utilize automatic call distributors (ACD) to queue calls for agents, thus enabling the call center to support a number of simultaneous calls that exceeds the number of call center agents. Even so, it is common for an ACD at a call center to become overburdened with calls. Such is the case when the trunks to an ACD from a telecommunications network become overutilized due to high volumes of calls. Additionally, many call center managers (hereinafter referred to as "customers") do not wish to buy an ACD for their call center, yet desire call queuing functionality so that callers do not encounter busy signals. From a business perspective, it is not acceptable for callers to encounter a busy signal and so find themselves unable to reach a call center.
Thus, telecommunications network carriers (hereinafter referred to as "carriers") have recognized the need for a capability to hold a call on a carrier network if the intended destination is unavailable. The process of holding a call on a network is generally referred to as "call parking." In addition, many customers operate multiple call centers, at different physical locations, that serve a single telephone number (for example, a 1-800 number). Thus, there is a need to determine the most available and cost-efficient destination among multiple destinations to which to route a call.
Intelligent routing applications can be used to route a call to one of multiple such destinations based on a number of criteria. In addition to call center availability, other criteria include the time of day, day of week, location of call origination, proximity of call origination to call destination, and caller-entered input (for example, digits entered on a telephone set keypad). Customers may also wish for callers to be routed to applications that provide call treatments, such as recordings or voicemail.
System requirements are imposed not only by customers, but also by carriers. One such requirement is minimizing the network-based cost of routing a call. Intelligent call routing applications are available to minimize such costs on a call-by-call basis.
While such intelligent routing applications are currently available, combining them with call parking remains a challenge. Conventional approaches do not provide for centralized, network-based call parking that can service multiple call centers. Conventional approaches also do not provide an adequate means for managing the network resources for parking a call. In particular, a mechanism does not exist for determining the availability of resources to park a call prior to routing the call to a call center or other termination.
Conventional approaches also do not provide for controlling the disposition of a call throughout the entire duration of the call, including the time when a call is parked. Further, it is desirable to provide a selection of call treatments to apply to a call after it has been parked.